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Worried Ex-Employer Will Disclose a Positive Drug Test

My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Mississippi

I resigned my previous job because I was given the option before being terminated for failing an DOT drug test. I am currently seeking work in an non-DOT position. My previous employer told me that if a reference was needed they would only mention that I was a good employee ( was there 11 years never had any discipline problems) and nothing would about the positive drug test would be mentioned. I have submitted several applications and haven't heard from any employers, and am beginning to worry that the positive drug test is showing up on background checks or my former employer is not keeping their word. My question is two fold, will the positive show up on a standard background check and if I haven't given permission to my former employer to release the positive test information can they disclose this information?
Every thing that I find on internet makes me think they can't disclose this information based on privacy laws and the fact that the jobs I am persuring are non DOT jobs.

Re: Getting Worried

Are you not getting called for interviews, or are you being interviewed and then not getting the job?

If the former, it is about 100% certain that your former employer has nothing to do with it. Employers do not call for references before deciding whom to interview. Reference checks are not performed until all the interviews have been completed and the top candidates identified. No employer has the time or the resources to do background checks on all the candidates they receive, before even interviewing them. They don't even do them on all the candidates they interview - usually not more than the top three, if that.

If after, then while there is a slight possibility that your background may be a factor, it is a slim possibility. The likelihood that every single employer you contacted has put you in the top three candidates is quite frankly, not very likely, particularly as you are changing fields as well as jobs.

What is much more likely is that you are running into the same problem as a great many other people; the fact that we are in a recession and there are not as many jobs as there are job applicants.

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